5.0 50k miles overdue for oil change.

[DIB_GT]

Take off the oil fill cap and take a picture of the timing chain. Post it.

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[GregO]

See how well modern oil perform.
This should put to rest the "I gotta change my oil every 3000 miles" or "10,000 / 15,000 mile oil changes are not normal".
OP, Change the oil and keep driving.

 

[K4fxd]

See how well modern oil perform.
This should put to rest the "I gotta change my oil every 3000 miles" or "10,000 / 15,000 mile oil changes are not normal".
OP, Change the oil and keep driving.

This.

 

[Matti777]

See how well modern oil perform.
This should put to rest the "I gotta change my oil every 3000 miles" or "10,000 / 15,000 mile oil changes are not normal".
OP, Change the oil and keep driving.

or somewhere between 3000 and 50,000 miles

 

[K4fxd]

I saw some sludge on the chain. Nothing to be too concerning. I would start normal change times, between 3 and 5K and you should be fine.

 

[Bikeman315]

I saw some sludge on the chain. Nothing to be too concerning. I would start normal change times, between 3 and 5K and you should be fine.

Call me a sceptic but doesn't that look a little to good for 50K? Or is that oil really that good?

 

[DIB_GT]

Call me a sceptic but doesn't that look a little to good for 50K? Or is that oil really that good?

That's good news for me. I'm starting to worry about my knock diagnosis though. I've been looking for examples of pulley knock, but can't find any. Sound was definitely from the front of the engine, didn't sound like it was from within the block and didn't sound as bad as most rod knock I've heard.

The sound only happens once the car is warmed up, It happens from about 2k rpms to 3k and might be louder under load. I can hear it if I quickly blip the throttle to 3k and the clacking sound continues until the engine hits idle again. While the RPMs fall, the clacking noise gets progressively slower until it stops. The car in this video makes the same noise and cadence as mine when the RPMs fall. Mine has none of the noise at idle or at RPMs above 3.5k. The guy in the video diagnoses it as rod knock, but never followed up after repairs.

I have no clue when I will be able to change my oil this weekend, but I need to do it before Wednesday at the latest. I have to change it outdoors, so between the wet and the cold it's going to suck.

 

[Andy13186]

Any modern known brand synthetic is fine, just change your oil, not at 25k or 15 or 10k, just change it at normal intervals and your car will die of some other issue not related to oil.

edit just meet the API spec or other relevant standard.

Id say people should check their oil level every 500-1000 miles, add some if necessary, and change when the oil life monitor tells you to.

 

[jwt]

No argument with that. It was more aimed at the my super duper synthetic oil that cost twice normal brigade. Pick a reasonable brand, change it as normal, something else will kill your car.

 

[Elp_jc]

Curious how many quarts the OP added to the car in those 50K miles. Based on the limited amount of gunk present on the timing chains (especially the small one), my guess is many. But let's hear from the OP.

 

[melwff]

So you mentioned CEL has been on since 36k and you just ignore it?
That means if new codes are there, unless you recheck, you still will assume it's only the EVAP?

 

[traxiii]

An ex-girlfriend of mine Killed a 1985 Mustang GT convertible before we ever dated. She had been given it, brand new for her H.S. Graduation along with a UNOCAL credit card, but nobody told her anything about cars. She proceeded to drive it for 2 1/2 to 3 years only adding oil when it was low, and only because she used to get gas at a "full service" station, yes they still had that some places back in the '80s. She put on over 50k miles without ever changing the oil or filter. When the seized up, from what she told me, the oil pick screen was packed full of sludge. It had never had any service of any kind, only oil top offs for 50k and still had the factory installed filter.

It was a damn shame, but from then on, she used that credit card to get all her maintenance done at the local UNOCAL station, and never had a problem with the little Rabbit convertible daddy bought for her that next time.

 

[Bullitt0819]

I am shocked, SHOCKED that no one has suggested cutting the oil filter open (I may have missed it, I just scanned previous replies). We used to do our own oil changes for aircraft I (partially) owned, and we always cut the filter open and sent a sample for analysis (I have mixed feelings on analysis; yeah, it can't hurt, I suppose, but I don't think, for instance, that a rod or a cylinder hold-down stud that's about to let go will give you much warning in the oil). An engine failure in flight is the third-worst thing that can happen to a pilot. Cutting the filter open is messy, but if you find chunks of stuff in the media you know you have to dig deeper. The cutter we used was like a large version of an old school, manual tin can opener; you don't want to use a hacksaw because that will contaminate the contents of the filter (and better cutters, that work like large tubing cutters are available). Clean the media in fresh solvent, and run a strong magnet through the solvent and residual oil and, of course, look for chunks of things (big aircraft engines would often leave 'coffee grounds' in the filter, which was just bits of carbon--they usually run pretty rich).

I don't open filters routinely, but I'll usually cut one open before I take a long road trip in one of my old British sports cars.

 

[Bikeman315]

So DIB_GT, it's been a week, 6 pages and 88 posts. When the heck are you going to change your oil?

 

[Garfy]

I can’t remember if my last oil change was at 17k or 27k miles, but I’m about to roll over 77k on my 2015 GT.

Through a combination of procrastination and stupidity, I’ve managed to put off an oil change time and time again until hearing rod knock yesterday on the way home.

After examining my car today, it seems like a pulley is actually the source of the knock.

For my wife’s truck I’ve substituted diesel for oil and run the engine for a minute after a few overdue oil changes, but her truck is sitting at 375k miles. I’m apprehensive about doing that to the 5.0.

I’m parking the car and changing my oil this weekend. What should I do to clean out the the remaining old oil and sludge when I do it?

P.S. This is not a troll post, I’m just that stupid.

I'm thinking you must not really be maintenance oriented because I can't imagine being SO BUSY that you couldn't have an oil change done. Also, the fact that you're running around with the MIL illuminated pretty much confirms it. When I worked as a Master Tech, I came across so many vehicles with the MIL on and the customers always said "it's nothing" saying it was an Evap issue or whatever. The problem with that is even if it was originally something that wouldn't impact the operation of the engine, it's not very smart because if and when something else which DOES affect the engine and can cause damage occurs, you would never know about it because it's not like there's another light that comes on to tell you something else went wrong. That's why I NEVER ignore when any of my vehicles have the MIL illuminated.

Secondly, on a good MM system (like Ford and Honda) that actually monitors various operating modes and conditions to determine remaining oil life (some don't as they always turn on at 5,000 miles or so, some you can set what mileage you want it to come on, etc.) you should do the maintenance when the MM light comes on. I was surprised when my daughter's Fit went to 15% oil life and turned on the light and I checked the mileage since the last change and it was over 10,000 miles! Previously that car always came on around 5,000-6,000 miles. What changed was she began to work farther away where she spent most of her time on a freeway rather than city type driving.

Good luck on what you find but if you bought the car new, I don't understand your ignoring something simple like oil changes. What I paid for my 2020 GT is something that makes me stick to maintenance schedules when either the oil life monitor tells me to OR once a year, whichever comes first.

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